ABU DHABI: Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for the leadership team of COP28 UAE, took part in several ambitious climate engagements at Climate Week New York City last week.

As the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28, Al Mubarak drives ambitious climate action within the real economy alongside multilateral action. Her key priorities have been accelerating the climate-nature nexus, speeding up the flow of finance for nature and Indigenous communities, and including Indigenous Peoples and underrepresented groups in climate diplomacy.

On 23rd September, Al Mubarak launched a report, Scaling Nature Finance Now: The Opportunity for Investors in Brazil and Beyond, which demonstrates that investments in nature-based solutions are already possible and profitable. According to the report, while Brazil is currently the largest potential market for nature-based investments, opportunities worth an estimated US$21 billion abound globally.

According to Al Mubarak, one key outco
me of COP28 in the UAE was the recognition of nature-based solutions as a means to achieving climate neutrality. Last year in Dubai, almost every country called for an end to deforestation, and 160 governments set out a roadmap for integrating nature and food systems in addressing climate change, she said. The issue at hand now is securing the necessary public and private funding.

‘We need to scale finance for nature, doubling investment in nature-based solutions for climate change by 2030 and tripling investment by 2050,’ said Al Mubarak, adding that it is of key importance to increase the share of nature finance for developing nations.

On 24th September, Al Mubarak, together with Dr. Afif Saif Al Yafei, Chief Executive Officer of TAQA Transmission, presided over a meeting with representatives of some of the world’s leading utility companies, partners within the Utilities for Net Zero Alliance (UNEZA). The partnership was launched at COP28 under the guidance of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IR
ENA) and the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions. UNEZA members have ambitions to scale their renewables portfolios by 2.6 times by 2030. In New York, the 39-member industry alliance announced a joint intent to invest more than $116 billion per year in clean power generation and power system grid infrastructure globally in the coming years.

‘As we advance toward our net-zero goals, UNEZA demonstrates the power of collaborative efforts to deliver on the 2030 Climate Solutions and the UAE Consensus to triple renewables and double efficiency by 2030,’ said Al Mubarak. ‘Today’s commitments reflect both the scale and the ambition of our collective endeavours.’

The following day, Al Mubarak attended a leaders’ meeting of the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel), formally announcing the UAE’s decision to join the initiative.

‘The Ocean Panel is a unique global initiative, mobilising political leadership and driving multi-stakeholder action towards a sustainable ocean economy,’ said Al
Mubarak. ‘To truly succeed, we must align and integrate efforts across key global frameworks, such as the Global Biodiversity Framework’s ambitious 30×30 target, the SDGs, and the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal. This synergy will unlock critical co-benefits for biodiversity, climate resilience, and long-term economic prosperity,’ she added.

On 26th September, Al Mubarak co-hosted an event, Indigenous Peoples’ Direct Access to Finance from COP28 to COP30, at the UAE Permanent Mission to the UN, together with Nigar Arpadarai, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP29. The closed-door event gathered key donor governments and representatives of funding facilities and Indigenous communities to discuss how to deliver funding in a faster and more targeted manner. This is particularly relevant considering that the $1.7 billion funding commitment pledged at COP26 in Glasgow will expire at COP30.

Al Mubarak said there is a need to increase the funding directly reaching Indigenous Peoples on the ground and to
support their efforts towards a new funding commitment at COP30.

‘Indigenous Peoples steward a quarter of the Earth’s terrestrial surface and are at the frontlines of fighting climate change,’ said Al Mubarak. ‘New funding commitments should consider nature and Indigenous Peoples front and centre. We need to continue to advocate for more Indigenous engagement with existing and future funding sources and institutions that are tasked with providing finance to Indigenous Peoples.’

‘I will do my part to ensure that we can advance these conversations and strategic partnerships from now through to COP29, a critical stepping stone and convening moment to advance this agenda,’ said Al Mubarak.

On 27th September, Al Mubarak attended the signing ceremony of the Ghana-UAE letter of intent, confirming a partnership worth $30 million for nature-based community development and climate solutions. The document sets out six investment areas, such as reforestation, biodiversity corridors, and agroecology.

At COP28, under t
he UAE Consensus, governments universally adopted a goal to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030, as well as align their climate strategies with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The UAE and partners mobilised over $2 billion of finance for nature-climate projects and programmes, including a broader investment package for Ghana’s Resilient Ghana strategy.

The letter was signed by Samuel Jinapour, Ghana’s Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, and Dr. Amna bint Abdullah Al Dahak Al Shamsi, Minister of Climate Change and the Environment, in the presence of Al Mubarak, who is also the UAE’s lead for the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership, and Abdulla Balalaa, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Energy and Sustainability Affairs.

Closing her participation at Climate Week New York, Al Mubarak co-hosted a high-level roundtable with María Susana Muhamad González, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia and President of the 2024 UN Biodiversity Conferen
ce (CBD COP16).

The event brought together leaders across government, civil society, and international organisations to take forward the momentum from COP28 of placing nature at the heart of climate action, into biodiversity COP16 in Cali, Colombia next month.

‘As governments work to enhance their NDCs following the Global Stocktake outcomes, we are advocating for these new NDCs to fully integrate nature’s role in mitigation and adaptation pathways. These efforts should align seamlessly with the Global Biodiversity Framework-aligned National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) that Parties are submitting for COP16,’ said Al Mubarak.

Taking stock of action in support of the COP28 Joint Statement on Climate, Nature and People, the event included a series of announcements, including the launch of a secretariat for the Climate-Nature Coordination Platform (CNCP). The CNCP was established to support the implementation of the Joint Statement objectives, such as the ambitious and coherent inclusion of n
ature within new NDCs for COP30 in alignment with the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

Source: Emirates News Agency